Soil-less cultivation device



Nov. 14, 1967 v v M. FERRAND SOIL-LESS CULTIVATION DEVI CE Filed Dec. 14, 1964 Nam-5L KER/en ND United States Patent ,352,057 SOIL-LESS CULTIVATION DEVICE Marcel Ferrand, 13 Rue Oswald Laroque, Toulon, Var, France Filed Dec. 14, 1964, Ser. No. 418,038 Claims priority, application France, July 2, 1964, 20,630 1 Claim. (Cl. 471.2)

The devices hitherto used for hydroponic cultivation suffer from numerous drawbacks, due to the difliculties encountered in positioning and stabilizing the plants and also resulting from the space occupied by such apparatus. Furthermore, the nutritive solutions are not protected from the action of external agents, and none of these systems enable gaseous treatment to be eflected.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a device enabling the various systems of cultivation without soil to be applied and combined, and enabling the plants to be continuously or intermittently fed with fluid or gas with the maximum of efficiency and in an apparatus occupying extremely little space.

It is characterized by the means used, considered in conjunction with one another as well as independently of one another, and more particularly by a tubular element forming a container in the interior of which a nutritive fluid or a treatment gas circulates; the upper part of this tube is provided with vertical or oblique orifices, to accommodate pots of cylindrical section containing the plants, the bases of the pots being supplied with the flow of nutritive substance; it is pointed out that these tubes can be placed on supports constructed tier-wise or else inserted in the ground, but in all cases they protect the fluids or gases against pollution or evaporation, the regular or intermittent circulation of the said fluids or gases being controlled by a pump.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating an example, without any limitative effect, of the way in which the invention can be constructed:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a cross section of the combination of the tubes and pots.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the device ensuring the circulation of the fluid.

FIG. 4 shows one of the ways in which the device can be applied.

The supporting tube 1 and the protective tube 2 enable the cylindrical elements 6, 7 and 8 to be centered and positioned by means of the vertical or oblique orifices 3, 4.

These pots, preferably made of a synthetic material, form containers filled with minerals or suitable products in which the roots of plants are secured and develop.

Nutritive liquids or solutions circulate in these supporting tubes. For this purpose, each end, 9 and 10, of the tube 11, is connected to a circulation pipe by a lower and an upper connecting socket 12 and 13 respectively. The circulation of the medium is eflected by a pump 14.

If gases are used for the treatment, nozzles 15, 16 and 17 are provided at heights corresponding to the respective densities, and the cups 18 and 19 and others may be equipped with hermetic packings.

These elements 20, 21 and 22 can be placed on supports 23 and 24 or inserted in the ground.

The advantages of this device will now be obvious.

The supporting tubes 1 and 2 are combined with the pots or elements 6, 7, 8 and others. The tubes are positioned horizontally, and the liquid 25, which consists of a suitable nutritive solution, circulates in the container thus formed.

The orifices 3, 4 or 5 position the cylindrical pots 6, 7, 8 at that distance apart which is appropriate to the type of plant to be cultivated or to the size of the pots.

These supporting tubes occupy limited space and can be suspended, as in FIG. 4, or inserted in the ground, or assembled battery-Wise on a number of tier-like supports.

Their aesthetic appearance enables the tubes 11 (FIG. 3) to be used for the decoration of very long internal or external surfaces. They can be easily concealed, so that only the plants are visible.

The tubular pots in which the plants are firmly rooted are completely stabilized in the open air, their lower parts being immersed in the nutritive solution 25. The latter is protected from pollution and is in no danger of being diluted by rain or by the watering of the plants 26 or even of being concentrated by evaporation.

It is also possible to carry out, at the level of the roots and leaves, a treatment of gaseous media, either continuously or in alternation with the supply of liquid.

This device enables various systems of cultivation without soil to be put into operation continuously or intermittently, the cocks 27 and 28 provided at the inlet and outlet enabling the rate of flow and the level of the liquid to be controlled as desired.

I claim:

A system for the cultivation of plants comprising:

(a) an elongated horizontal liquid and gas tight container having a plurality of orifices formed at intervals along its upper surface and also having fluid feed and withdrawal means at opposite ends thereof;

(b) a plurality of individual fluid porous plant root receptacles, which are imperforate to roots secured therewithin, inserted in said orifices through fluid tight packings and projecting upwardly from said container;

(0) nutrient fluid within said container and in contact with said porous receptacles immersed therein; and

(d) means adapted to circulate said fluid the length of said container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,189,510 2/ 1940 Swaney 47-1.2 2,198,150 4/1940 Barnhart 471.2 2,205,303 6/ 1940 Munselil 471.2 2,983,076 5/1961 Merrill 47-1.2

ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

R. E. BAGWILL, Assistant Examiner. 

